Courts are investigating the legality of a European Union regulation requiring biometric passports in Europe. Last month, the Dutch Council of State (Raad van State, the highest Dutch administrative court) asked the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to decide if the regulation requiring fingerprints in passports and travel documents violates citizens’ right to privacy. The case entered the courts when three Dutch citizens were denied passports and another citizen was denied an ID card for refusing to provide their fingerprints. The ECJ ruling will play an important role in determining the legality of including biometrics in passports and travel documents in the European Union.

The government of India has amassed a database of 200 million Indian residents' digital fingerprints, iris scans, facial photographs, names, addresses and birthdates. Yet this vast collection of private information is only a drop in the bucket compared to the volume of data it ultimately intends to gather. The Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency that administers Aadhaar -- India's Unique Identity (UID) program -- has a goal of capturing and storing this personal and biometric information for each and every one of India's 1.2 billion residents. Everyone who enrolls is issued a 12-digit unique ID number and an ID card linked to the data.

Throughout Latin America, new surveillance practices threaten to erode individuals' privacy, yet there is limited public awareness about the civil liberties implications of these rapid changes. Some countries are pursuing cybercrime policies that seek to increase law enforcement power. In other nations, government-run biometric identification systems are on the rise, while certain governments are even turning to drones to aid in their surveillance activities. A culture of secrecy surrounds these surveillance practices, and citizens remain largely unaware of what type of information is being collected and how it is being used against them.

Wednesday at 10 am, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals is set to hear oral argument in Haskell v. Harris, examining crucial questions of DNA privacy. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, this is a unique opportunity to hear debate over how your genetic information can be collected, stored, and shared by law enforcement.